Sand In My Feet
by Katara Seven
Summary: It's a lazy and boring summer day, so Sokka and Toph decide to go to the beach while Katara and Aang are out ice skating. Tokka Oneshot! AU!


**Sand In My Feet**

**Tokka Oneshot**

**Katara7**

* * *

It was another boring Saturday at Katara's house. Katara and Aang had gone out ice skating, so it was just Sokka and I, slumping lazily on the couch and watching TV. The clock on the wall read 8:59. I groaned.

See, my parents decided to go on a summer vacation traveling all over Europe, and decided best to just leave me here. Katara offered for me to stay at her place and everyone agreed to it, so there I was, in the middle of summer, sitting on a couch by Sokka.

Sokka and I have a unique bond. We're not best friends or anything, we just, I dunno, get each other. We hang out a lot, but we're _not_ boy-friend-girl-friend. So the next person who calls us lovebirds, I swear I'm gonna knock the lights out of them so hard, they'll have spontaneous fainting for the rest of their lives.

Anyway, we were sitting there on the couch eating chips, drinking coke, and watching I Love Lucy; a habit we usually do whenever we're bored. Sokka had gone out and bought Cheetos the other day, so we were eating those instead of Lays, which was just fine with me, because I _love_ Cheetos.

I was guessing he did too, because every time my hand _wasn't_ in the Cheetos bag, his was.

It was quiet. A little too quiet, but I didn't mind. For a split second Sokka's hand was out of the bag, so I reached in for a Cheeto, when Sokka reached in too and our hands suddenly touched.

It was silent. My eyes moved to the left and I looked at him. He looked at me and our eyes met. I quickly looked away and took my hand back, clearing my throat in the process. He laughed nervously, looking away too, I could tell.

"Um, you can have the rest, Toph." He told me.

"No thanks. I'm not hungry." I lied.

"... Okay then!" He took the bag and started inhaling the rest of our snack.

I stared at him and rolled my eyes. It was so typical of him.

He stared at me and raised his eyebrow.

"Why are you rolling your eyes?"

The orange Cheeto cheese was all over his mouth, and so I started laughing.

Poor guy, he was looking so clueless.

"Toph, why are you laughing?"

"Nothing, Snoozles," I said, calming down. "Just eat your Cheetos."

He squinted at me. Slowly he reached inside the bag for his grub, when he took it back out and set the bag on the floor.

It was quiet after that.

I went back to watching TV, but I was seriously _really_ bored. I had that lazy feeling when you're so bored you don't know what to do and you just don't want to do anything.

Suddenly Sokka spoke up.

"Hey Toph, do you wanna go to the beach?"

I raised my eyebrow.

"The beach? Today?"

"Yeah, right now."

I made a small groaning sound.

"No. I don't like swimming."

"We don't have to swim, you know." He pointed out.

"So?"

"So... let's go!"

I grimaced.

"No thanks."

"Pleeeaaase? Pretty please? Please please please please please?"

His begging was starting to annoy me. I closed me eyes and said reluctantly,

"Fine."

Sokka hopped up from the couch so fast his empty soda can went flying.

"Let's go get ready!" He said excitedly.

He turned the TV off and zoomed to his bedroom.

I quickly finished my coke and then slumped slowly to Katara's room, which we shared at that time.

OoOoO

A little while later, Sokka and I were in his car, on the way to the beach. He was driving and I was in the passenger seat. We were listening to _Savin' Me_ by _Nickelback_, and Sokka was humming along.

He had on a blue T shirt and his Spongebob swimming trunks. I was wearing my dark green swimsuit and black shorts, and in the middle of applying sunscreen.

"We can build a sandcastle, play Frisbee, get a tan..." Sokka started to say. "Or we could go in the ocean where it's shallow enough to stand."

"No thanks," I said quickly. "A sandcastle and Frisbee are nice; I don't need to get in the water."

Sokka glanced at me.

"Why don't you want to swim?" He asked carefully.

I turned away and gazed out the window.

"I just don't like to, duh."

I could feel his dark blue eyes staring at me, but I didn't turn around. No way would I admit to him that I didn't know how to swim.

It was quiet for a few minutes after that. Sokka kept driving and I kept my eyes focused on the nature outside. We were driving through huge green fields of trees and up ahead I could see the beach.

I had my contacts in, but I had brought my nerdy round glasses in my swim bag just in case. I was born with really poor eyesight, so I had been wearing glasses ever since I could remember. And then when I was in 6th grade my parents finally let me get contacts, thank goodness.

"We're there," Sokka announced two minutes later. I turned to face him and he was smiling at me excitedly.

He drove through the gateway and entered the beach parking lot. There were a few other cars, but I was happy to guess that we'd mostly get the beach for ourselves.

We grabbed our bags, shut the car doors, and then walked down to the beach. It was very beautiful; a dark blue ocean with peach-colored sand. Just how I like 'em.

We stopped at a nice spot next to a palm tree, hold the coconuts. I set up my towel, dropped my bag next to it, and then slipped off my shoes.

"Woah." My eyes were wide.

Sokka looked up from smoothing out his towel and frowned.

"What's up?"

A smile appeared on my face.

"The sand... it's so... soft!"

Sokka stared at me oddly.

"Well, yeah, that's how sand is."

"No- I mean really _really_ soft!"

I pulled him off his towel and on the sand, and pulled of his shoes. He stood on the sand and raised his eyebrows.

"Wow... it _is_ really soft! Softer then I can remember!"

I wiggled my toes and giggled, which was really unlike me. But I couldn't help it. The sand felt so smooth and soft against my feet, it was relaxing.

We stood therefor a minute, enjoying the soft sand and just smiling. Then I made my way to a nice spot a few feet away.

"I think I'll build a sand castle." I told him brightly.

"Count me in!"

So we built a sand castle. A pretty huge one, actually. Sokka found a pale blue bucket stuck in the sand and a toy shovel next to it, so the castle had lots of towers and windows. I found some seaweed and starfish to decorate it with. We also found a few clams we used as doors.

It was a lot funner then it sounds. We had a "sand" fight and we laughed a lot. People walking by would stare at us, but we ignored them and kept laughed. It was the funnest I'd had in a long time.

It was around noon. We quickly drew a circle with a stick around our castle, and then went back to our towels. We sat down and I opened my bag and pulled out a new bag of Cheetos and two cokes.

Sokka laid down and closed his eyes with his hands behind his head. He was smiling.

"Isn't this the life? On the really-soft-sand beach, eating Cheetos and drinking coke, just you and me."

I blushed, glad he had his eyes closed.

"Yeah." I agreed quietly, opening the Cheetos bag. His eyes popped open and we began to eat.

"I wonder if Aang and Katara are having a good time," Sokka wondered.

I had completely forgotten about them. I'd been having too much fun, I guess.

"They went ice skating, right?" I asked, and he nodded.

"They probably aren't having nearly as much as fun as we are." I told him.

I took a drink of my coke when I realized he was gazing at me, smiling. I set it down and looked at him. We locked eyes, and something happened. Something that made my insides bubble. I don't know what it was exactly, but it felt kind of... magical.

"Toph... why don't you want to get in the ocean?" He asked me, and I swear the way he asked it just forced the truth out of me, because I barely held back,

"I... I can't swim... I don't know how, and I'm afraid I'll drown."

He frowned, but there was compassion in his eyes.

"Do you want me to teach you?"

"I'm not planning on learning how, Snoozles."

"Come on, Toph, it'll be fun." His smile was warm and inviting. My stomach tingled.

"Well, I guess. . . ."

"Great! Come on!" He said enthusiastically, standing up and instantly pulling me towards the water.

Fear overcame me as I stared at the vast blue ocean.

"Wait, Sokka, I- I don't know about this-"

"Don't worry, if you drown, I'll save you."

"Sokka! I'm serious! I don't want to-"

"It'll be okay, Toph. You'll see."

"STOP, Sokka! I'm not going in the water!"

Suddenly my legs were freezing cold. I looked down and realized I was standing in the water, it coming up to my shorts.

I started feeling dizzy, like I was about to faint, but then Sokka's warm hands were wrapped around my stomach, and he was holding me steady. His face was touching mine, and my cheeks turned cherry red.

"This isn't so bad, is it?" He asked.

I didn't answer. Instead I glued my eyes tightly together and gulped a huge breath of air.

"I'm-going-to-kill-you!" I muttered quietly with my teeth clenched, but he ignored me.

We started walking deeper into the water. Deeper and deeper, but I was safe in his arms. Then we were so deep that the surface was right below my chin.

"Sokka!" I squeaked.

"I'm going to let go now." He said slowly.

"Don't you dare!"

"You need to learn how to swim, and I need to teach you. If I let go, you'll be standing all by your own, but I won't let you drown. I promise." He said calmly.

I blinked tears out of my eyes.

"One... two... three."

His body heat left mine, and now I was literally freezing. A small wave splashed into my face, but I stood my ground.

My eye opened. Then my other eye. I looked to the left.

Sokka was standing there smiling.

I took a deep breath.

"Now here's how you swim," His voice felt a million miles away. I looked at him and he showed me the position and how I should move my hands and legs.

"Ready?" He asked me.

"No."

He walked a little further and before I knew it, he was swimming. He swam towards me, then away from me. I glared at him.

"Come on, Toph! Swim to me!"

I made a mental note to kill him later on. Then I took another deep breath and stared hard at the water. I took a step forward. Then another. Then I held my breath and I lifted my toes from the ground and I swam. I swam towards him and I wasn't drowning.

I started smiling, my eyebrows up to my hair.

"S-sokka... I'm swimming!" I announced, flabbergasted.

I swam towards him and beamed. He beamed back, and pretty swoon we were having so much fun, I forgot about everything else. Everything that mattered. I only focused on him, the water, and swimming.

It was around one O'clock, I guessed. Our fingers were starting to get pruney, so we swam back to shore and dried off.

I landed on my towel and breathed in and out carefully. I was completely exhausted!

"Wow, that was fun." I said happily.

He was on his towel next to me, and he sat up and faced me. I sat up and faced him. We were staring into each others eyes again, and this time, we were both blushing.

"Thanks for teaching me how to swim, Snoozlez."

"My pleasure, Toph."

It felt as though time had stopped. I couldn't hear the waves or any of the other people talking anymore. Everything was black, and the only thing I could see was Sokka. We started leaning towards each other. Each inch we moved our heads felt like a million years. My heart was beating super fast. My whole body was numb. Both of our eyelids were drooping. It was like we were enchanted under some sort of deep spell.

And then our eyes were closed and our faces met. When our lips touched, there was a fiery explosion all around us. My heart felt new and full of love. My entire energy was back, and as we kissed, the world took a deep breath, and everything relaxed.

And then it was over. Our eyes had opened and we were no longer kissing. The beach was back, the sounds of other people talking and laughing and the sounds of the waves were back. The bright sun was shining down at us, and time was playing again. Everything was back to normal.

He smiled, and so did I.

"Hey, Toph,"

"Yeah?"

His blue eyes glittered and sparkled.

"You can have the rest of the Cheetos."

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I hope you like it. :) Please R&R!


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